Chapter 2

Monday morning came too soon. I couldn't get to sleep in a new place until I was real tired so I only got a few hours sleep. I grabbed a glass of diet coke and hurriedly cleaned up and got dressed. I walked down to the registration office and met with the councillor. We went through the scholarship details and got me signed up for the appropriate classes and set me up with a voucher to get my textbooks. I went to the campus bookstore and got them and lugged them back to my apartment. I grabbed a quick lunch and then went back to the University to attend a couple of mandatory freshman seminars and orientation activities. They had booths set up for all the fraternities and sororities but I had no interest in them. I did sign up for some intramural hockey as I had brought my skates, stick, gloves and helmet in case I could find somewhere to play. I would have to pick up some used shin guards, elbow pads and shoulder pads and pants.

I looked at my watch and saw that it was already pretty late, so I walked back and put away my stuff. I grabbed a frozen cake from the freezer and knocked on Vicky's door. She opened up with a smile and invited me in. She was wearing a t-shirt and shorts as was I; the difference is she looked good in hers. We were having home-made lasagne and garlic bread and it smelled and looked delicious. I was starving from the long day and we dug in. We talked about our day, mostly mine, since she had stayed home as she was already registered and didn't need to attend any orientation. She told me stories of her week last year when a friend had tried to get her to join a sorority. She was glad she didn't with all the homework she had but the friend did and they didn't see much of each other anymore. She seemed pretty lonely by herself and I wondered why she didn't have a boyfriend but I was too shy to ask.

We cleaned up the kitchen and I thanked her and left when she started getting nervous. I found a textbook and started reading it in advance to get ahead. After a bit I logged into the network and looked up the intramural hockey site to get some information on game times as well as open ice times to get some practice in. I found time in the early mornings every day that I could get to before my first class. That would get me some exercise without having to join a gym.

I called it a day a little early and tried to fall asleep, this time with Vicky in her shorts teasing me.

I got up early Tuesday morning and drove to the Yost Ice Arena which was an old barn style arena that had two rows of windows in the front two storey part of the building. The brown bricks made it look very stately for an arena and it looked like it had been renovated a few times. I walked in up the stairs and went into the front lobby to look around. There were a bunch of bulletin boards listing public skating times, intramural league schedules and display cases highlighting both the men's and women's Wolverines hockey teams' accomplishments.

I looked at the rink through the windows and saw a practice just ending for a girl's team and the Zamboni coming on to clean the ice. A couple of people were at the rink's door waiting for him to finish. I looked around for a change room and followed some signs to a hallway down some stairs. I followed a guy into a room and asked him if this was for the free skate and he said yes. I quickly put my skates on and asked if sticks and pucks were allowed and he said the rink was split in half so those that wanted to could just skate, and the other half you could have pucks and shoot at the net. Sometimes there was a goalie who wanted some practice. I thanked him and grabbed my gloves and stick and a couple of pucks and went out.

It had been about four months since I had been on the ice and a couple years since I had played in any type of game situation. We had a small rink at our house that my Dad and I would skate on and practice shooting but nothing beats playing to keep you in shape. I stepped on the ice and slowly skated around the entire rink until the halves were sectioned off. I put a puck down and started handling it while continuing to skate around the half rink. A goalie was stretching at the side of the rink while a couple of us were stick handling and taking soft shots at the empty net. Eventually he got in the net and the other guys started shooting at him or going in to try and deke him.

I felt warmed up a little but stopped skating and stretched until I finally felt ready and joined the two guys. They didn't seem to have a hard shot but the younger short one seemed to be able to move and deke well. The older one seemed to be just fooling around and talked to both the goalie and the younger guy. I asked if I could take a few shots in between and they said go ahead. I waited until they were off to the side and took a couple of slap shots from the blue line at about half strength. I wanted to make sure they were on target rather than to go for power at first. We alternated for a bit as I started feeling more comfortable. I started putting a bit more power into the shots and tried to pick the corners top and bottom to make the goalie have to move a bit rather than just stay in the middle. He seemed to be able to stop most of them easily so I started putting a bit more power to them. A couple got past him high on the stick side and over his glove shoulder finally. He seemed to bear down a bit more when I shot so I put a few at him at almost full power. One missed high and banged loud against the glass behind him attracting a few looks from around the arena. Finally I started skating in and deking him as well; starting slow with a couple of moves I used to use or just wristing a shot for the open side when he moved. He stopped more than he let in. He asked me to take a few more shots before the time was up so I went back to shooting on him. I put in my full power at the end and blew a few by him, banging a couple off the goal posts and cross bar and missing on a few. He had a real good glove hand but his weakness was his stick side so I shot for that side at the end and put three in top, middle and low corner before the buzzer sounded. I thanked them for letting me shoot with them and said I would see them around. The three stayed on for a minute while I skated off and walked through the players waiting to get on after the Zamboni cleaned the ice.

I quickly took off my skates and packed up my stuff and was walking out when the older guy came in.

"That was some shooting out there young man" he said.

"Thanks, it's been awhile since I had any practice. It's nice to be able to get some in without a lot of people in the way."

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" he asked.

"Oh, up in Northern Ontario on our rink my Dad and I built every year" I replied.

"And the deking?" he asked.

"Same place, either we would shoot at holes in a target or go one on one with each other and then have to put it in with the target there" I said.

"Well it seems to have paid off. Are you here to try out for the team?" he inquired.

"Team, what team? I thought it was just a free skate out there" I replied confused.

"Oh, I thought you might be trying out for the University team — the Wolverines" he said.

I laughed and said "Sorry no, I signed up for intramural hockey yesterday but I didn't have any plans to try out for the University team."

"Hmmm, maybe you should, that was the starting goalie for the team and one of the centres out there getting a bit of practice"

"He was a pretty good goalie that's for sure, he just needs some practice on his stick side and he should do well. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow; I need to get in shape for the league that starts next week. Thanks again."

"Ok, see you tomorrow" he said.

I went home and had a shower and relaxed a bit before having to go and attend another orientation for freshman, this time about Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Sexual Harassment and proper behaviour. I didn't have much to worry about as my track record with girls was batting zero for zero. I wasn't much to look at, being tall and skinny, and I was pretty shy around girls, always had been.

I had some lunch and went home to grab my car and went to a sports store that specialized in used equipment and scrounged around until I found some shoulder pads, shin pads and elbow pads that fit and didn't cost much. I grabbed a pair of hockey pants, a couple of jerseys, one white and one dark and a hockey bag and paid for the lot. I stopped on the way home and got a spray bottle of Febreze and sprayed the whole lot of it outside and let them air out. It was an old trick to get rid of the musty smell and the sweat from the equipment I wore today.

Vicky rounded the corner in a tight pair of shorts and a cute tank top and saw me spraying the equipment.

"Hey Mike, what ya doing?" she asked.

"I'm just spraying my hockey equipment to get rid of the smell. I joined an intramural hockey league and went for a free skate this morning for a bit of exercise and practice" I told her.

"Oh, that sounds fun, I'll have to come watch you play sometime" she said with a smile.

"Sure, as soon as I know when they are I will let you know" I replied. "So are you coming over for dinner tonight?" I asked.

She looked at me and said with a grin "Of course, it is your turn!"

"Well, you are in for a treat, Macaronis et Fromage, real French Canadian masterpiece will await your arrival, let's say at five" I boasted.

"It sounds delicious, I hope it won't take too long for you to make" she said.

"Nothing is too long for you, mon petite fille" I replied, exhausting my grade nine high school French vocabulary.

She looked at me funny and said she would see me at five. I grabbed a textbook and read outside for a while until I got too hot. I packed the equipment in the bag and brought it in and put in on the other side of my bed.

I had a quick shower and then started the dinner. I had some big Kaiser buns so I cut them in half, buttered each side and put some garlic powder on them and toasted them in the oven. I put some cheese on a couple to make garlic cheese bread but left a few just with the butter in case she didn't want so much cheese. I made a pitcher of grape juice and put out a checker patterned paper table cloth and poured the grape juice into a couple of glasses. I found a small stump of a candle and stuck it on a plate and lit it just before five. It looked like a fancy dining room table at first glance. I put the main course in a shallow square pan and covered it and then pulled out the garlic buns and put them on a plate beside the pan. I quickly changed and was waiting when she knocked.

"Bonjour Mon petite fille, so good of you to join us in our French restaurant tonight" I said in a horrible French accent.

"Why thank you kind sir, this looks marvellous!" she exclaimed. "You weren't supposed to spend a lot of time on this!"

"It is not a bother for the best chef in the entire entire basement" I said pompously. "Please sit" I directed her as I pulled her chair out. She sat down and I pushed her chair in and then placed a napkin on her lap. I sat down across from her and raised my glass and said "A toast! To a beginning friendship — may it last and grow into a beautiful friendship".

She echoed "To friendship" and we both had a drink. She smiled when she tasted the grape juice and I winked.

"And now, the piece de resistance... 'Macaronis et Fromage'" I pontificated as I took the top off the pan.

She broke out in laughter and nearly drenched the table in grape juice.

"Mac and Cheese! Here I'm expecting some fancy French dish —oooh, you are so going to get it Mister" she threatened with a smile.

"And homemade Garlic buns and Cheese Garlic buns too" I retorted, taking the cover off the plate.

"Well, ok then, you might have saved yourself" she laughed.

I dished out some for her and then myself and we had a nice meal with more conversation than ever before. She had incredible large eyes that sparkled when she laughed and she was witty and very smart. I enjoyed spending time with her as a person and forgot she was a pretty girl. I think she forgot for a while that I was a boy and we talked for a much longer time than usual. The candle sputtered out and we realized at the same time that we were still sitting at the table two hours later.

We got up and cleaned up the dishes and put the leftovers away. I didn't want this evening to end but I didn't know how to keep it going without it getting awkward. She was just finishing drying the last dish so I had a little bit of time before she got nervous too. Maybe we can watch a DVD I thought, so I sort of told her rather than asked her.

"Let's go get a DVD down at the store ok" I said as I grabbed her hand and lightly pulled her to the door. She came along without a fuss, surprising me and I think her as well. We went up the stairs with me holding her hand and the door with the other hand and we walked up the driveway holding hands. I tried to keep the conversation going with questions on what she would like to see, a romantic comedy, an action, a thriller, a drama or a horror and we talked about some of the movies that were out. I didn't get a weird vibe from her or even worse an amused vibe so that was good. I was starting to get very attracted to her and wanted to get to know her better, even though she was older.

We entered the variety store and I had to let her hand go as we went in. When she wasn't looking I wiped off my hand, it seemed to have gotten wet somehow. We looked at what was available and I let her talk me into some romantic comedy with Reese Witherspoon in it. We grabbed some pop and chips and I paid for everything after I signed up to be allowed to rent from them. We walked back pretty close to each other and she had her hand close to mine so I took the next step and grabbed it and held it as we walked back. She looked at me and gave me a little smile and I smiled back at her. She squeezed my hand a little bit and looked ok with it, not too happy but not mad either.

We got back to my apartment and went inside. I saw a problem as soon as we walked in the door. The only place to sit was on the bed to watch the TV which sat on the dresser. I ignored that as I gave her the movie while I poured the drinks and got a big bowl for the chips and a couple of napkins. She had put the DVD in and had the remote in her hand while sitting on the edge of the bed skimming through the old trailers. I sat down at the edge of the bed holding both drinks after putting the bowl between us. She slipped her runners off and wiggled back to the head of the bed and then had me hand her the bowl and her glass. I did this by standing up and moving closer to her. I walked to the other side of the bed and pried my shoes off with the other foot and then sat down with my back against the wall beside her. She put the bowl between us and started the movie.

We watched the movie without touching except a few times when we both reached for chips at the same time. I tried to look at her from the side of my eyes but she always seemed to be watching the movie so I couldn't get a good read on her. All too soon the movie was over and she was getting up. She stretched her lanky body and her breasts strained against her tank top and her bare midriff that was showing as her top crept up. She looked so good I just stared at her.

She held that position for a bit while my eyes roamed up her body until I got to her face and saw that she was smiling that she caught me. I blushed a beet red and my face got warm.

"You are so cute when you blush" she said with a giggle as I got off the bed in a fluster.

"Sorry about that, It's just that you are very beautiful and I haven't been around many girls" I apologized.

"Hey, don't worry, if I don't want you to look, I'll wear a sweat suit ok?"

"Ummm, ok" I said.

She put her glass in the sink and grabbed her keys. She turned to me and walked up close to me and said "Thanks for the nice evening. I had a really good time". She looked up at me and smiled.

"Thanks for being here. I had a great time too" I replied looking into her eyes.

She waited for a bit, gave me a quick grin and turned around quite close, just brushing me with her body and walked to the door. I followed and watched her as she went to her door and opened it. She looked back and saw me looking and gave me a smile and said goodnight. I said good night and waited until she closed her door before closing mine.

I grabbed a shower and went to bed thinking of Vicky in her short tank top and her bare midriff.

I got up on Wednesday thinking of the same thing that I did when I went to bed. I got up and drove over to the arena to get another skate in. This time I went right to the locker room and got changed and was waiting when the Zamboni was still out on the ice. I did some stretching while waiting to get my stiff muscles warmed up. There didn't seem to be many people there yet but that might be better so I could get in a good skate first. The Zamboni finished up and just a couple of people started on the ice. I started off slow, just doing a few laps around the outside like the others. I switched to skating backwards to see if I could still do it without falling. It came back pretty quickly without any embarrassing falls. It felt real good to be skating again especially with all that had happened in the last year.

I felt warmed up enough so I sped up going forward and putting some effort into it. After a few laps I switched to backwards while at full speed and kept up the speed for a few more laps until I had to take a rest. I slowed up and went into a glide with my stick on my knees sucking wind. I looked up and someone had divided the rink and the same guys were out with the goalie. They had a few more guys out taking some shots today. A couple were big guys, as tall as me but probably twenty or thirty pounds heavier. The others were shorter than me but most had the same build as the taller guys. The older guy from yesterday was there and when I skated up he said "Hi there, here to take a few more shots? My name is Frank by the way."

"Hi Frank, nice to meet you, I'm Mike" I said as I took off my glove to shake his hand. "If you guys don't mind me joining in, I sure could use the practice".

"Nice to meet you Mike" he greeted me. "We don't mind, the more the merrier".

The guys were lined up along the blue line and started taking shots. There were some strong shots and some average ones. No one did any close in shots or deking. When it came to my turn I put one in the top corner on the goalie's stick side at three quarter power. One the big guys took a big wind up and let one rip at the same place but the goalie had adjusted and used his blocker high to deflect it. The second big guy also had a powerful shot but missed the net high and shook the glass behind the net. We went up and down the line about five times with the taller guys and me giving the goalie some good shots to try and stop. One of mine clanged off the crossbar loudly while a couple of theirs hit the backboards and wrapped around the side boards above the ice.